Steamboat
Disasters

( Part One )

Give list of persons
killed and wounded on Steamboats in our waterways .
Some poor victims were buried along the banks of the Mississippi ,
Arkansas , Ohio , White and other rivers listed where the explosion or
accidents took place . Names of some of the victims and where
from listed , some listed just names , and some names unknown just
passengers or part of the crews . Most of the ships log books were
destroyed from fire and not a full complete record of the deaths . These
horrific accounts of early travel by steamboats were very dangerous , and
so many lives were lost .

Might help locate some
of our missing family members that worked or traveled by the Steamboats
.

This
deplorable accident took place on the Ohio river on the
9th day of June, 1816. The Washington was the largest and
finest boat which had hitherto floated on any western stream.
Her commander, Captain Shreve, was skilled and experienced in
all the duties of his calling; her machinery was all presumed
to be in the best possible order, and no human foresight could
have anticipated the fatal event. The boat left Marietta,
Ohio, on Monday, June 7, and on the afternoon of the following
day came safely to anchor off Point Harmar, where she remained
until Wednesday morning. The fires were now kindled, and other
preparations made for continuing the voyage down the Ohio; but
a difficulty occurred in getting the boat into a proper
position to start the machinery. While laboring to effect this
object—the boat having, in the mean time, been carried by the
force of the current near the Virginia shore—it became
necessary to throw out a kedge anchor at the stern. Soon
after, all hands were summoned aft to haul in the kedge, and
while they were collected on the quarter for that purpose, by
a singular and most unfortunate chance, the end of the
cylinder nearest the stern was blown off, and a column of
scalding water was thrown among the crowd, inflicting the most
frightful injuries on nearly all of the boat's, crew, and
killing a number on the spot. The cry of consternation and
anguish which then arose might have been heard for miles. The
captain, mate, and several others were blown overboard; but all of
these, with the exception of one man, were afterwards rescued
from the water, but were found to be more or less injured,
either by the fragments of the cylinder or the scalding
water.

The inhabitants of the neighboring town,
now called Harmar, were universally alarmed by the sound of
the explosion, which appeared to shake the solid earth to a
considerable distance. A number of physicians and many other
citizens crowded into the boat to ascertain the extent of the
calamity ; but no language can describe the scene of misery
and torture which then presented itself to the view of the
spectators. The deck was strewn with mangled and writhing
human beings, uttering screams and groans of intense
suffering. Some, more fortunate than their companions, lay
still in the embrace of death. Among the wounded, six or
eight, under the influence of their maddening torments, had
torn off their clothes, to which the entire skin of their
limbs or bodies adhered; the eyes of others had been put out,
and their faces were changed to an undistinguishable mass of
flesh by the scalding water. But the greatest sufferers,
apparently, were those who had been internally injured by
inhaling the scalding steam, the effect of which on the lungs
is agonizing beyond all the powers of imagination to conceive.
The whole scene was too horrible for description, and it made
an impression on the minds of those who witnessed it which
could never be obliterated.

The
cause of the explosion was a disarrangement of the
safety-valve, which had become immovable in consequence of the
accidental slipping of the weight to the extremity of the
lever. The following is a list of the killed and wounded by
this calamitous explosion:

Mr.
Williams of Kentucky, the unhappy gentleman last mentioned in
the preceding list, while lying in the cabin of the
Washington, in his last moments, offered one of the cabin-boys
all his money if he would knock him on the head to put a
speedy end to his misery. The boy who received this offer, and
who relates the incident, is now Captain Hiram Burch, of
Marietta, Ohio,

Joseph , one of the hands, was missing; he
is supposed to have been blown overboard, and carried down by
the current. Several of the wounded died a short time
afterwards in consequence of their injuries. At a meeting of
the citizens of Marietta, a committee was appointed to provide
for the sufferers, and to make arrangements for the burial of
the dead.

This first
steamboat
accident in the West produced a great excitement among
the inhabitants of that region, and occasioned for some time a
strong prejudice against steamboat travel, the people being
oblivious of the fact, that when the water conveyance was
confined to barges and keel-boats, there was more real danger
and more actual loss of life than may be classed among the
incidents of steamboat
navigation.

THE STEAMBOAT CONSTITUTION.

On the 4th day
of May, 1817, while the steamer Constitution was ascending the
Mississippi river, and when she was off Point Coupee, the
boiler exploded, making the whole front part of the cabin a
perfect wreck, and killing or wounding thirty persons, eleven
of whom perished instantly. As soon as the terrific report of
the explosion was heard on board, numbers of the excited
passengers threw themselves into the rapid current, and many
were drowned or wafted down the stream before assistance could
reach them. The shrieks of the wounded and dying were
reverberated from the distant shores, and many a ghastly and
heart-sickening spectacle presented itself on the deck of the
ill-fated vessel. One man had been completely submerged in the
boiling liquid which inundated the cabin, and in his removal
to the deck, the skin had separated from the entire surface of
his body. The unfortunate wretch was literally boiled alive,
yet although his flesh parted from his bones, and his agonies
were most intense, he survived and retained all his
consciousness for several hours. Another passenger was found
lying aft of the wheel with an arm and a leg blown off, and as
no surgical aid could be rendered him, death from loss of
blood soon ended his sufferings. Miss C. Butler, of
Massachusetts, was so badly scalded that, after
lingering in unspeakable agony for three hours, death came to
her relief. Many were drowned whose names do not appear in the
subjoined list of those who perished by this disaster.
Besides, many of the victims were so mutilated and disfigured,
that their bodies could not be identified; and owing to these
causes the list may be considered as very incomplete.

Capt. Bezeau and lady, with some others,
were fortunate enough to escape unhurt, being forward when the
explosion took place. The following are the names of those who
were killed :

The
Constitution, formerly called the Oliver Evans, was built at
Pittsburgh only a short time before this fatal explosion. At
that period she was one of the finest boats on the
river.

THE STEAMER TENNESSEE.

About ten
o'clock, on a dark night, in the midst of a tremendous snow
storm, on the 8th of February, 1823, when the steamer
Tennessee, under a full press of steam, was ploughing her way
up the turbulent Mississippi river, near Natchez, she struck a
snag, and immediately commenced filling with water. The
Tennessee was crowded with passengers, and the confusion and
excitement were great among them all. The deck passengers had
retired to bed. Most of those in the cabin were spending a
cheerful evening together, in the enjoyment of social
intercourse. The shock was great, and called every one
instantly to the deck. Some supposed the boat had run into the
bank, and would bound off again without injury. But the fatal
truth was soon known, and in the confusion many leaped
overboard and perished.

Capt. Campbell gave orders instantly to
stop the leak ; but the pilot, who had been down to examine
the damage, with difficulty escaped from the hold, in
consequence of the water so rapidly rushing in. A hole as
large as a common door was torn in the hull, and the truth was
soon told—the Tennessee was going down. The shrieks of the
women were heart-rending at this awful news. The night was
dark, and the wind howling around in its fury made the scene
doubly terrible. Every one inquired of his neighbor what was
to be done, and every one was anxious to provide for his own
safety. The yawl and long boat were lowered, and into it the
passengers, nearly two hundred in number, crowded, till it was
on the eve of sinking.

Those
in the boat shoved
off, and with one oar could not reach the shore in time to
return to assist those left behind. Some, finding there was no
chance in the long boat, jumped into the river and swam ashore
; others pulled off the cabin doors and floated on them; some
got among the fire wood, and were lost by slipping through and
being covered by it; some clung to parts of the boat, which
floated off with them. Mr. Keiser got upon the carpenter's
bench, and Mr. A. Logan, who had fallen into the water and
sunk nearly to the bottom, on coming up, fortunately caught
hold of the way-plank, which formed a raft, and on which he
floated down stream. Mr. Keiser soon came up with him, and
leaving the work-bench joined him on his raft. They floated in
company about eight miles, when, seeing a light on shore, they
called for aid, and were taken up by a young man named Gibson,
who conveyed them to the house of Mr. Randolph, where they
were kindly treated.

One man swam with his hat
and cloak on, until he reached the willows, when he
deliberately relieved himself from the burthen of those
outside garments, leaving them on the tree till next morning,
and swimming safely to shore. Another passenger swam out with
a small bag in his mouth, containing $3000 in gold, which
proved of essential service to him; for on getting hold of a
plank, and throwing his arms over it, he found the weight of
his specie, which he then carried in his hand, admirably
calculated to preserve his equilibrium. One man was sick in
his berth, and being told of the danger, observed that he was
too weak to save himself from drowning, and appeared reluctant
to get up; but on being reminded that his father was on board,
and required his assistance, he sprang from his bed, and not
only saved his own life, but was instrumental in saving
others. A young married lady, when her husband was about
recklessly to throw himself into the Mississippi, caught hold
of him, and by her presence of mind took off some shutters and
made a raft, upon which they both floated down the river, and
were picked up by a skiff.

The boat
floated down the river a short distance and lodged near some
willows, upon which many of the deck passengers clung till
daylight, when they were relieved from their perilous
situation.

Scarcely any property was saved from the
wreck; a few trunks and other light things floated off, and
were picked up. Some were pilfered by a mean wretch living in
the neighborhood, named Charles Goodwin, others were preserved
and afterwards reclaimed by the owners. The survivors speak in
the highest praise of Mrs. Blanton, formerly of Kentucky, who,
in the absence of her husband, Mr. William Blanton, made every
exertion for the comfort of the sufferers. By this disaster there were no
less than sixty lives lost; the names of many will never be
known. The following is a list as far as could be
ascertained:

This was one
of the early disasters, and was the theme of conversation for
months after the fatal calamity. Indeed, people, for a long
time after this accident, were almost afraid to go on a steamboat; but it
was soon forgotten in the narratives of the more heart-rending
disasters that followed after, in rapid succession.

THE
STEAMBOAT
TECHE ON THE MISSISSIPPI
RIVER

MAY 5TH,
1825.

The S. B.
Teche left Natchez on the evening of May 4th, 1825, heavily
laden with cotton, and carrying about seventy passengers, many
of whom came on board at the moment of departure, and were
unknown to each other. Her course was down the river, and she
proceeded about ten miles, when the night became so
excessively dark and hazy that her commander, Captain
Campbell, deemed it unsafe to proceed further, and concluded
to come to anchor. At two o'clock on the following morning,
May 5th, the anchor was weighed, and the steam having
previously been raised, the boat had just begun to pursue her
voyage, when the passengers, many of whom had been sleeping in
their berths, were startled by a shock which seemed sufficient
to separate every plank and timber in the vessel, accompanied
by a report which sounded like the discharge of a whole
broadside of the heaviest artillery.

Every light on board was immediately
extinguished, either by the escape of steam or the concussion
of the air. As the day had not yet dawned, an impenetrable
darkness now hung over the scene of the disaster, the extent
of which could only be imagined by the affrighted and
horrified crowd collected on the deck ; but at that moment of
appalling danger, and still more dreadful uncertainty, was
heard a cry that the boat was on fire ! Then followed a scene
of indescribable confusion ; the passengers, in the very
insanity of terror, were rushing hither and thither, through
the dense and ominous gloom, and many anticipated their doom
in their erring endeavor to avoid it.

Mr. Miller, of
Kentucky, one of the surviving passengers, who afterwards
published in a New Orleans paper a narrative of the events of
this fearful night, states that when the alarm of fire was
given, he attempted to go towards the bow, from whence the cry
proceeded, but before he had advanced ten paces, he was
precipitated down .the hatchway, (the hatches had been blown
off by the explosion,) and after falling, fortunately on his
feet, to the bottom of the hold, he found himself knee-deep in
scalding water, which had been discharged from the fractured
boiler. He would soon have perished in the suffocating vapor
which filled the place, had not his cries for assistance been
heard by some humane person on deck, who threw him the end of
a rope, and thus enabled him to escape from his agonizing and
perilous situation.

By this time the flames began to ascend,
illuminating the deck with a lurid glare which enabled the
passengers to discern the means of escape which offered,
though these means were made less available by the terror and
confusion which prevailed. The yawl made several trips to the
nearest shore, carrying off a load of passengers at each trip
; but as the flames began to extend rapidly over the deck, it
was evident that all the people on board could not be saved in
this way. In these circumstances, the Captain gave orders that
bales of cotton should be thrown overboard, and on these many
passengers were kept afloat until the boats finally took them
off.

But the last
incident of this tragic narrative is one of the most
distressing. About three o'clock, A.
M., the steamboat Washington, while
passing up the river, was hailed by the survivors on board of
the burning vessel.. The Washington promptly sent a boat to
their assistance, and waited to receive them. All who remained
on the Teche, (about twelve in number,) embarked in the
Washington's boat; and now, assuring themselves of safety,
they had reached the side of the steamer, when, by some
unlucky accident, the small boat was upset, and every person
on board, man, woman, and child, was drowned. It would seem
that their inexorable fate had doomed them to
destruction.

The number of
lives lost by this accident could never be ascertained.
Several persons were instantly killed by the explosion, and
others were so badly injured, by scalding, or otherwise, that
they died soon afterwards. It is thought that not less than
twenty or thirty were drowned.

THE
STEAMBOAT
GRAMPUS ON THE
MISSISSIPPI

AUGUST 12, 1828.

The Grampus
was engaged in towing three brigs and a sloop up to New
Orleans, and was about nine miles from that city, when the
explosion took place. This accident was one of the most
remarkable in the whole catalogue of steamboat disasters, on account of
the extensive wreck which was made of the machinery. The boat
had six boilers, all of which were blown to minute fragments.
The same complete destruction was made of the flues, and
various other parts of the steam apparatus; and the boat
itself was, (as an eye witness reports,) " torn to
pieces."

The Captain,
(Morrison,) and Mr. Wederstrand, a passenger, were sitting by
the wheel at the time of the explosion ; both were blown to a
part of the forward deck fifty feet distant, where they were
afterwards found, very much bruised, among a mass of ruins.
The pilot at the wheel was precipitated into the water and
drowned. Another pilot, who was walking the deck aft of the
wheel, had a leg broken, and received other injuries, which
caused his death. The brig in tow on the larboard side of the
Grampus had both topmasts cut away by the fragments of the
machinery, and her standing rigging was much damaged. A piece
of the pipe fell across this brig's tiller, carried it away,
and slightly injured the man at the helm. The brig on the
other side of the steamer had her bottom perforated by a piece
of the boiler. The other vessels, being astern, escaped
without any damage.

The causeof this accident requires
particular notice. It appears, from the statement of a
passenger, that the chief engineer had " turned in," leaving
his assistant in charge of the engine. This assistant, as it
is supposed, went to sleep at his post, after partially
shutting off the water. The consequence was a deficiency of
water in the boilers ; and the assistant engineer, on waking,
when he discovered that the boilers were nearly exhausted,
ignorantly, or imprudently, put the forcepumps in operation to
furnish a supply. At this time the iron must have acquired a
white heat, and the contact of the water produced such an
excess of steam, that the explosion naturally followed.

Killed,
Wounded And
Missing.—John Smith, a fireman,
killed. George Brown, a Balize pilot, mortally wounded. One of
the crew of the brig Anastasia, (name unknown,) killed.
Another seaman, belonging to the same brig, badly wounded.
William Taylor and John Harden, much injured. Joseph Dryden,
second engineer of the Grampus, missing (so reported, but
undoubtedly killed). Thomas Dodd, steersman, missing. Harry,
Frank, Layden and George Mooney, all blacks, missing. Charles
Craig, badly wounded. Nine were killed on the spot, or died
soon afterwards, in consequence of their injuries. Four others
were wounded.

THE
HELEN McGREGOR, AT MEMPHIS,
TENNESSEE

FEBRUARY
24,1830.

The steamboat Helen
McGregor, Capt. Tyson, on her way from New Orleans to
Louisville, stopped at Memphis, on Wednesday morning, February
24, 1830. She had been lying at the wharf about thirty
minutes, when one or more of her boilers exploded, with the
usual destructive and melancholy effects. The loss of life by
this accident was, at that time, unprecedented in the records
of steam navigation. In the bustle incident to the landing and
receiving of passengers, a part of the deck near the boilers
was crowded with people, all of whom were either killed
instantaneously, or more or less injured. No person in the
cabins was hurt. The number of those who perished at the
moment of the explosion is variously estimated at from thirty
to sixty. As many of them were strangers whose homes were far
distant, and whose bodies were never recovered from the water,
into which they were projected, it is very plain that an
accurate account of the number of the victims is not to be
expected.

The following
report of the killed and wounded is the most complete and
reliable that could be obtained :—

The Rob Roy
was on her route from New Orleans to Louisville, and was under
way, at 8 o'clock P. M, June 9th, 1836, near the town of
Columbia, Arkansas, when the fatal catastrophe we are about to
record took place. The engine was stopped for the purpose of
oiling some part of the machinery; and although this necessary
operation did not occupy more than two minutes, the
accumulation of steam was sufficient to cause an explosion. As
soon as the accident occurred, preparations were made to run
the boat ashore, which was happily reached within a few
minutes. By this judicious measure many lives were undoubtedly
saved. None were lost by drowning, and the only victims and
sufferers were those who were killed or wounded at the moment
of the explosion. The clerk of the boat, a few days after the
accident, furnished the following account of the killed and
wounded, which he certified to be correct, adding, that some
of those reported among the wounded had since died, and others
were not expected to recover.

The steamboat Ben Franklin, on the day
of this awful occurrence, was backing out from her wharf at
Mobile, in order to make her regular trip to Montgomery.
Scarcely had she disengaged herself from the wharf, when the
explosion took place, producing a concussion which seemed to
shake the whole city to its foundations. The entire population
of Mobile, alarmed by the terrific detonation, was drawn to
the spot to witness a spectacle which must have harrowed every
soul with astonishment and horror. This fine boat, which had
on that very morning floated so gallantly on the bosom of the
lake, was now a shattered wreck, while numbers of her
passengers and crew were lying on the decks, either motionless
and mutilated corpses, or agonized sufferers panting and
struggling in the grasp of death.

Many others
had been hurled overboard at the moment of the explosion, and
such were the numbers of drowning people who called for
assistance, that the crowd of sympathising spectators were
distracted and irresolute, not knowing where or how to begin
the work of rescue. Many how many, it is impossible to say
perished in the turbid waters before any human succor could
reach them.

Apart from the
loss of life, which at that time was unexampled, the
destruction produced by this accident was very extensive. The
boilerdeck, the boilers, the chimneys, and other parts of the
machinery, besides much of the lading, were blown overboard
and scattered into fragments over the wharf and the surface of
the river. Mr. Isaac Williams, a passenger, was blown at least
one hundred feet high in the air, and his dead body fell into
the water, about one hundred and fifty yards from the
boat.

The cause of
the accident is believed to have been a deficiency of water in
the boiler. The boat was injured to that degree that repairs
were out of the question, and she was never afterwards brought
into service.

The usual
uncertainty attends the estimated number of lives lost by this
calamity. Many of those who perished, had just entered the
boat, and had not registered their names; and, among the
mangled corpses, not a few retained scarcely any vestige of
the human form, so that the identification of particular
persons was impossible. We have, after much research, obtained
the following list of the sufferers, which we believe to be
the most complete account ever published.

The citizens
of Mobile, with their customary humanity and generosity, took
the wounded in charge, and did every thing in their power to
mitigate their sufferings.

THE DUBUQUE, AUGUST 15, 1837.

This
distressing accident, by which sixteen persons were instantly
killed, and several others were badly scalded, took place on
the Mississippi, while the boat was on her voyage from St.
Louis to Galena. The locality of the dreadful event was off
Muscatine Bar, eight miles below Bloomington. The Dubuque was
running under a moderate pressure of steam at the time, when
the flue of the larboard boiler, probably on account of some
defect in the material or workmanship, collapsed, throwing a
torrent of scalding water over the deck. The pilot immediately
steered for the shore and effected a landing.

When the
consternation and dismay occasioned by the explosion had in
some measure subsided, Captain Smoker, the commander of the
Dubuque, and such of his crew as were not disabled by this
accident, made their way, with considerable difficulty,
through the ruins to the afterpart of the boiler-deck, when it
was found that the whole of the freight, and every other
article which had been there deposited, was cleared off and
wafted far away into the water. The unfortunate deck
passengers, together with the cooks and several of the crew,
were severely scalded, either by the hot water or escaped
steam. Many of these wretched people, in their agony, fled to
the shore, uttering the most appalling shrieks, and tearing
off their clothes, which in some cases brought away the skin,
and even the flesh, with them.

Humanity
shudders at the recollection of the scene. It was several
hours before any of them died; nor could medical relief be
obtained until a boat, which had been despatched to
Bloomington, returned with several physicians who resided at
that place. At 10 o'clock, P. M., eight hours after the
explosion, the steamboat Adventure, Captain Van
Housen, came up with the wreck, and took it in tow as far as
Bloomington.

The following
is a list of the sufferers as far as ascertained:

Killed
:—John Littleton, second engineer; he was badly wounded
in the head by a piece of iron, a part of the flue, and
survived about three hours ; Isaac Deal, of Pittsburgh,
fireman ; Felix Pope, Kaskaskia; Charles Kelly, deck hand,
from Ohio; Noah Owen, Quincy; Jesse Johnson, colored cook,
thrown overboard and drowned ; Benjamin Muser, another colored
cook. The rest of the killed were deck passengers, James
C. Carr, St. Clair county, Illinois; George McMurtry, Francis
Pleasant, colored, Henry A. Carr, John C. Hamilton, Joseph
Brady, and John Boland, of Dubuque; Joseph L. Sams, and L. B.
Sams, of Clay county, Illinois; Martin Shoughnohoy, St. Louis;
George Clix, of Galena; David Francour, Frenchman; wife and
child of Michael Shanghnessy.

M.
Shanghnessy, the husband and father of the two victims last
mentioned, was badly scalded, but survived. Three other deck
passengers, young men, names unknown, are supposed to have
been thrown overboard and drowned ; and it is strongly
suspected that others beside these perished in the same
manner.

THE HORNET, JUNE 2, 1832.

On the night of Saturday, June 2, 1832,
the steamboat
Hornet, Captain Sullivan, while ascending the Ohio
river on her way to Kanawha, and when about thirty-three miles
above Maysville, Kentucky, encountered a sudden and violent
gale blowing from the southwest, and immediately capsized.
Exclusive of the persons belonging to the boat, there were
forty-two people on board, : twelve cabin and thirty deck
passengers, nearly half of whom were drowned. The Hornet
righted soon after the disaster, and was towed to the nearest
port, Concord, by the steamboat Guyandotte, Captain
Davis Embree.

Of the twenty persons drowned by this
accident, all the names which have been preserved are
comprised in the following list:

Of the boats crew, Captain Sullivan,
master ; John Johnston, pilot, of Gallipolis; Edward Jones, a
sailor, of Cincinnati; a chambermaid and a female cook, both
colored.

THE
ENTERPRISE, NEAR CHARLESTON,
S.C.

SEPT. 10, 1816.

In the midst of a furious thunder-storm,
accompanied by a heavy fall of rain, the steamboat Enterprise, Capt.
Howard, was making her way up the river, at nine o'clock, p.
M., (having but a few minutes before stopped to land some
passengers on Sullivan's island,) when the boiler exploded,
killing eight persons instantly, and wounding five or six
others, with various degrees of severity. Fortunately, a
majority of the passengers had crowded into the cabin to avoid
the rain ; this circumstance, no doubt, was the means of
saving many persons from a horrible death; a fate to which
nearly all who remained on deck were subjected. The noise of
the explosion was so very slight, as to be scarcely noticed by
the people collected in the cabin; and they were first made
aware of the accident by hearing the hissing sound of the hot
water which escaped from the boiler, and the shrieks of the
persons on deck who had been scalded or otherwise
burnt.

There were
about seventy passengers on board the Enterprise, and
providentially no women or children. Several of the persons
whose deaths
are reported below, were killed by pieces of the boiler
and flue, some of which were blown to a great distance. Others
were scalded to death, or badly burned by the ignited fuel
from the furnace, which was scattered in every direction,
knocking some of the people down, and overwhelming them, as it
were, in a whirlpool of fire. The night was made hideous by
the cries and groans of the sufferers, which rose above the
din of the warring elements.

At the time of the accident, the steamer
was fortunately not more than one hundred yards from the
Island, from whence boats were immediately despatched to the
scene of destruction, to afford that assistance which the
situation of the passengers and crew required. All the
survivors, including the wounded, were conveyed to the Island,
where they were provided with such accommodations as their
condition demanded and circumstances would admit of.

Some
difference of opinion existed with respect to the cause of
this accident. Captain Howard, master of the boat, and some of
the passengers, held the opinion that the flue was struck by
lightning, which being conducted by the metallic tube down to
the boiler, shivered the latter to fragments. In opposition to
this opinion, it is alleged that salt water was used for the
purpose of raising steam, and as the boiler was composed of cast
iron and not of copper, an explosion, according to the theory
of skillful engineers, was
inevitable.

As stated above, eight persons lost their
lives by this accident. Their names, with one exception, Mr.
Robbs, were never published. Three of those killed were
colored men. Four of the crew, not included in the above
statement, were so severely burned that their lives were
despaired of, and it is probable that they died soon
after.

THE
POLANDER AND HORNET, APRIL 19,1832.

The Polander,
Captain Menaugh, had just left the wharf at Cincinnati, about
eight o'clock, p. M., the night being dark and
foggy, when she encountered the Hornet, which was coming into
port. Both vessels were considerably injured, and the Captain
of the Hornet was crushed to death. One of the crew of the
same vessel was severely wounded. No further particulars have
been published.

THE LIONESS, ON RED RIVER , MAY
19,1833.

The
destruction of the Lioness was caused by the explosion of
several barrels of gunpowder, which were stowed, among other
freight, in the hold. The accident, therefore, cannot be
attributed to any defect in the steam apparatus, or to any
mismanagement thereof. The catastrophe took place at an early
hour, on a calm and beautiful Sabbath morning in spring. Many
of the passengers had not left their berths. Among those that
had embarked in the Lioness at New Orleans, were the Hon.
Josiah S. Johnston, of the United States Senate, and several
other distinguished citizens of Louisiana. The boat was
commanded by Capt. William L. Cockerell; her place of
destination was Nachitoches, on Red river. She had
accomplished a considerable part of the voyage, and reached
the north of a small stream called Ragolet Bon Dieu, when, on the morning referred to
above, the mate and several of the crew were arranging some
part of the cargo in the hold; and as the place was dark, they
found it necessary to use a lighted candle. It is conjectured
that a spark from the candle, in some way, found access to one
of the kegs of powder; but as every person who had been at
work in the hold was killed by the explosion, the mode in
which the powder became ignited could never be ascertained. It
is reported that some articles of a very combustible nature,
such as crates containing a quantity of dry straw and several
casks of oil, were stowed in dangerous proximity to the
powder. It was stated by some of the passengers that three
distinct explosions were heard. The forecabin, the boiler
deck, and the hold immediately under them, were literally torn
to pieces, and the fragments were scattered over the
surrounding waters to a surprising distance. A part of the
hurricane deck and a portion of the lady's cabin were likewise
detached; and this proved to be a favourable circumstance, as
the hull almost immediately sunk, and, in all likelihood,
every female on board, and many other persons, would have been
drowned, had they not been sustained on the detached pieces of
the wreck just spoken of. As it was, all the women were saved;
and the loss of life, though terrible enough indeed, was less
than might have been expected, in view of all the
circumstances of the disaster. The hull of the vessel was on
fire almost from stem to stern, at the time she went down. All
of the crew and passengers who survived, saved themselves by
swimming, or were floated to the shore on fragments of the
wreck. The names of the sufferers, as far as they could be
ascertained, are given below.

Drowned,
Or Killed
By The
Explosion.—Hon. Josiah S.
Johnston, Member of Congress, of Louisiana; B. Riggs, Esq.,
Michael Boyce, Esq., of Alexandria, Louisiana; Michael
Clifford, New Orleans ; H. Hertz and Thomas Irwin, a deck
passenger, of Texas; John Coley, mate of the Lioness,
Louisville ; John Clarke, Englishman, steward of the same;
Samuel Landis, William Kant, James Folsome, sailors; another
sailor, name unknown; Mary Anderson, chambermaid; Alexander,
colored cook; and a colored servant belonging to one of the
passengers.

This awful
calamity, which hurried more than fifty human beings into
eternity, occurred on a cold wintry night, while the Black
Hawk was about to ascend the Red river, on her passage from
Natchez to Natchitoches. The boat had a full load of
passengers and freight, including ninety thousand dollars in
specie belonging to the United States government. She had just
reached the mouth of Red river, when the boiler exploded,
blowing off all the upper works forward of the wheels. The
pilot and engineer were instantly killed.

The number of
passengers on board is stated to have been about one hundred,
nearly half of whom were women and children. No estimate of
the number killed was ever published, but it appears from the
best accounts we have that a majorityof the passengers and crew perished. A large proportion
of the passengers on western steamboats are persons from
distant parts of the country, or emigrants, perhaps, from the
old world, whose journeyings are unknown to their friends, and
whose fate often excites no inquiry. When such persons are the
victims of a steamboat calamity, their names,
and frequently their numbers, are beyond all powers of
research. So it appears to have been in the case now under
consideration. Instead of a list of the slain, we are
furnished only with a catalogue of the survivors, and these, alas, appear to have
been merely a forlorn remnant. The only cabin passenger whose
name is mentioned in the list of killed furnished by the
clerk, was Mr. Delisle, of Natchez. Among the deck passengers,
fifteen were known to be lost, three others died soon after
the explosion, one was observed to sink while attempting to
swim ashore, and twelve more were scalded severely, and
fifteen slightly. A subsequent account added to the above list
of killed Mrs. Delancey and her three children, of Boston ;
Dr. Van Bantz, drowned, and Wm. Tolling, who was mortally
wounded and died within a few hours. The latest and most
authentic account stated that not less than fifty persons must
have perished by the explosion of the Black Hawk. The crew of
the boat suffered to a considerable extent. The pilot was
blown overboard and lost. Henry Sligh, colored engineer, was
killed. George Johnson, another engineer, was dangerously
wounded. Felix Ray, barkeeper, was very badly scalded. Four
firemen were killed, and one was wounded. Two deck hands were
killed. The cook, steward, and cabin boy were all dangerously
wounded. Two slaves belonging to Mr. Duffield were drowned.
After the explosion, the wreck, being all in flames, floated
fifteen miles down the stream, and then sunk. Some of the
passengers were taken off the burning wreck by a flat-boat. It
is mentioned that the females on board of the Black Hawk
rendered essential service by baling and assisting to
extinguish the flames. A part of the cargo and seventy-five
thousand dollars of the specie were saved. Several valuable
horses, which had been shipped at Natchez, were
drowned.

THE
MOSELLE, NEAR CINCINNATI,
OHIO

APRIL 25, 1838.

We are now
about to relate the particulars of an event which seemed for a
time to shroud the whole country in mourning ; an event which
is still believed to be almost without a parallel in the
annals of steamboat calamities. The Moselle
was regarded as the very paragon of western steamboats ; she
was perfect in form and construction, elegant and superb in
all her equipments, and enjoyed a reputation for speed which
admitted of no rivalship. Her commander and proprietor, Capt.
Perrin, was a young gentleman of great ambition and
enterprise, who prided himself, above all things, in that
celebrity which his boat had acquired, and who resolved to
maintain, at all hazards, the character of the Moselle as "the
swiftest steamboat
in America." This character she unquestionably deserved
; for her "quick trips" were without competition at that time,
and are rarely equalled at the present day. To give two
examples:—her first voyage from Portsmouth to Cincinnati, a
distance of one hundred and ten miles, was made in seven hours
and fifty-five minutes; and her lasttrip, from St. Louis to Cincinnati, seven hundred and
fifty-miles, was performed in two days and sixteen hours; the
quickest trip, by several hours, that had ever been made
between the two places.

On the afternoon of April 25, 1838,
between four and five o'clock, the Moselle left the landing at
Cincinnati, bound for St. Louis, with an unusually large
number of passengers, supposed to be not less than two hundred
and eighty, or, according to some accounts, three hundred. It
was a pleasant afternoon, and all on board probably
anticipated a delightful voyage. Passengers continued to crowd
in up to the moment of departure, for the superior
accommodations of this steamer, and her renown as the finest
and swiftest boat on the river, were great attractions for the
travelling public, with whom safetyis too often but a secondary consideration. The Moselle
proceeded about a mile up the river to take on some German
emigrants. At this time, it was observed by an experienced
engineer on board that the steam had been raised to an unusual
height; and when the boat stopped for the purpose just
mentioned, it was reported that one man, who was apprehensive
of danger, went ashore, after protesting against the
injudicious management of the steam apparatus. When the object
for which the Moselle had landed was accomplished, the bow of
the boat was shoved from the shore, and at that instant the
explosion took place. The whole of the vessel forward of the
wheels was blown to splinters ; every timber, (as an eye
witness declares,) "appeared to be twisted, as trees sometimes
are when struck by lightning." As soon as the accident
occurred, the boat floated down the stream for about one
hundred yards, where she sunk, leaving the upper part of the
cabin out of the water, and the baggage, together with many
struggling human beings, floating on the surface of the
river.

It was remarked that the force of the
explosion was unprecedented in the history of steam; its
effect was like that of a mine of gunpowder. All the boilers,
four in number, burst simultaneously; the deck was blown into
the air, and the human beings who crowded it were doomed to instant destruction.
Fragments of the boiler and of human bodies were thrown both
to the Kentucky and Ohio shores, although the distance to the
former was a quarter of a mile. Captain Perrin, master of the
Moselle, at the time of the accident was standing on the deck,
above the boiler, in conversation with another person. He was
thrown to a considerable height on the steep embankment of the
river and killed, while his companion was merely prostrated on
the deck, and escaped without injury. Another person was blown
to the distance of a hundred yards, with such force, according
to the report of a reliable witness, that his head and a part
of his body penetrated the roof of a house. Some of the
passengers who were in the after part of the boat, and who
were uninjured by the explosion, jumped overboard. An
eye-witness says that he saw sixty or seventy in the water at
one time, of whom not a dozen reached the
shore.

It happened, unfortunately, that the
larger number of the passengers were collected on the upper
deck, to which the balmy air and delicious weather seemed to
invite them in order to expose them to more certain
destruction. It was understood, too, that the captain of this
ill-fated steamer had expressed his determination to outstrip
an opposition boat which had just started ; the people on
shore were cheering the Moselle in anticipation of her success
in the race, and the passengers and crew on the upper deck
responded to these acclamations, which were soon changed to
sounds of mourning and distress.

Intelligence of the awful calamity spread
rapidly through the city; thousands rushed to the spot, and
the most benevolent aid was promptly extended to the
sufferers, or, as we should rather say, to such as were within
the reach of human assistance, for the majority had perished.
A gentleman who was among those who hastened to the wreck,
declares that he witnessed a scene so sad and distressing that
no language can depict it with fidelity. On the shore lay
twenty or thirty mangled and still bleeding corpses; while
many persons were engaged in dragging others of the dead or
wounded from the wreck or the water. But, says the same
witness, the survivors presented the most touching objects of
distress, as their mental anguish seemed more insupportable
than the most intense bodily suffering. Death had torn asunder
the most tender ties; but the rupture had been so sudden and
violent that none knew certainly who had been taken or who had
been spared. Fathers were distractedly inquiring for children,
children for parents, husbands and wives for each other. One
man had saved a son, but lost a wife and five children. A
father, partially demented by grief, lay with a wounded child
on one side, his dead daughter on the other, and his expiring wife at
his feet. One gentleman sought his wife and children, who were
as eagerly seeking him in the same crowd. They met, and were
re-united
.

A female deck passenger who had been
saved, seemed inconsolable for the loss of her relatives. Her
constant exclamations were, " Oh, my father ! my mother ! my
sisters !" A little boy, about five years old, whose head was
much bruised, appeared to be regardless of his wounds, and
cried continually for a lost father; while another lad, a
little older, was weeping for his whole family.

One venerable
looking man wept for the loss of a wife and five children.
Another was bereft of his whole family, consisting of nine
persons. A touching display of maternal affection was evinced
by a lady, who, on being brought to the shore, clasped her
hands and exclaimed, " Thank God, I am safe!" but instantly
recollecting herself, she ejaculated in a voice of piercing
agony, "Where is my child?" The infant, which had also been
saved, was brought to her, and she fainted at the sight of
it.

Many of the
passengers who entered the boat at Cincinnati had not
registered their names ; but the lowest estimated number of
persons on board was two hundred and eighty; of these,
eighty-one were known to be killed, fifty-five were missing,
and thirteen badly wounded. It remains for us to give the
names of the sufferers, as far as they could be ascertained;
but this list, although we have searched every record of the
accident, for reasons which have already been explained is
still far from complete.

Killed.—Elijah North, of Alton,
Illinois; Miss Mary Parker, (drowned,) and B. Furmon,
merchant, Middletown, Ohio; Job Jones, of Loudon County,
Virginia; B. Mitchell, barkeeper, of Cincinnati; Capt. Perrin,
master of the Moselle ; J. Chapman, second clerk; T. C.
Powell, of Louisville, Kentucky; H. B. Casey, of Cincinnati;
James Barnet, of Missouri; Calvin R. Stone, of Shrewsbury,
Massachusetts ; James Douglass, of Fort Madison, Wisconsin ;
J. Williams, colored; Henry Stokes, second steward; Holly
Dillon, fireman; J. Madder, first engineer ; Robert Watt, deck
hand ; E. Dunn, chambermaid ; James B. McFarland, Knox County,
Ohio ; Miss Dunham; J. M. Watkins, of Virginia ; M. Thomas,
first mate; A. Burns, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Halsey
Williams, second engineer; a child of P. Troutman; G. Kramer's
wife and five children; J. Fleming, pilot, (body blown to the
opposite side of the river,) and J. Dillon. Many whose names
are inserted under the head of "missing" may properly be added
to this list. A large number of those who perished were Irish
and German emigrants, whose names are unknown.

On the day after the accident a public
meeting was called at Cincinnati, at which the Mayor presided,
when the facts of this melancholy occurrence were discussed,
and among other resolutions passed was one deprecating " the
great and increasing carelessness in the navigation of steam
vessels," and urging this subject upon the consideration of
Congress. No one denied that this sad event, which caused so
much consternation, suffering, and sorrow, was the result of a
reckless and criminal inattention to their duty on the part of
those who had the management of the Moselle, nor was there any
attempt to palliate their conduct.

The Moselle
was built at Cincinnati, and she reflected great credit on the
mechanical genius of that city, as she was truly a superior
boat, and, under more favorable auspices, might have been the
pride of the •waters for many years. She was quite a new boat,
having been begun on the 1st of December, 1838, and finished
on the 31st of March, less than one month before the time of
her destruction.

THE
BEN SHERROD, MAY 8, 1837.

On the
8th of May, 1837, the large Louisville and New Orleans packet,
the Ben Sherrod, caught fire on her upward trip, while she was
engaged in an exciting race with the steamer Prairie. It was
one o'clock at night, and the boat was about fourteen miles
above Fort Adams, ploughing her way up the Mississippi with
great velocity. The Prairie was just ahead of her, in sight,
and the crew of the Ben Sherrod were determined, if possible,
to go by her. The firemen were shoving in the pine knots, and
sprinkling rosin over the coal, and doing their best to raise
more steam. They had a barrel of whisky before them, from
which they drank often and freely until they were beastly
drunk. The boilers became so hot that they set fire to sixty
cords of wood on board, and the Ben Sherrod was soon
completely enveloped in flames. The passengers, three hundred
in number, were sound asleep, not thinking of the awful doom
that awaited them. When the deck hands discovered the fire,
they basely left their posts and ran for the yawl, without
giving the alarm to the passengers. Capt. Castleman attempted
for a time to allay the excitement and confusion, by telling
them the fire was extinguished. Twice he forbade the lowering
of the yawl, which was attempted. The shrieks of nearly three
hundred and fifty persons now on board, rose wild and
dreadful, which might have been heard at a distance of several
miles. The cry was, " To the shore ! to the shore !" and the
boat made for the starboard shore, but did not gain it, as the
wheel ropes soon burnt. The steam was not let off, and the
boat kept on up the river. The scene of horror now beggared
all description. The yawl, which had been filled with the
crew, had sunk, drowning nearly all who were in it; and the
passengers had no other alternative than to jump overboard,
without even taking time to dress.

There
were ten ladies who all went overboard without uttering a
single scream; some drowned instantly, and others clung to
planks ; two of the number were all that were saved. Several
passengers were burnt alive. One man by the name of Ray, from
Louisville, Kentucky, jumped overboard, and hung to a rope at
the bow of the boat, until rescued by the yawl of the steamer
Columbus, which arrived at the scene half an hour after the
boat took fire. Mr. Ray's face and arms were much burnt while
clinging to the boat. He lost twenty thousand dollars in
specie. The steamboat Alton arrived half an
hour after the Columbus, but from the carelessness or
indiscretion of those on her, was the means of drowning many
persons who were floating in the water. She came down under
full headway among the exhausted sufferers, who were too weak
to make any further exertion, and by the commotion occasioned
by her wheels drowned a large number. A gentleman by the name
of Hamilton, from Limestone county, Alabama, was floating on a
barrel, and sustaining also a lady, when the Alton came up,
washing them both under. The lady was drowned, but Mr.
Hamilton came up and floated down the river fifteen miles,
when he was rescued by the steamer Statesman. Mr. McDowell
sustained himself some time against the current, so that he
floated only two miles down the river, and then swam ashore.
His wife, who was floating on a plank, was drowned by the
steamer Alton.

Mr. Rundell floated down the river ten
miles, and was taken up by a flat-boat at the mouth of Buffalo
creek; he saved his money in his pantaloons' pocket. Mr.
McDowell lost his wife, son, and a lady named Miss Frances
Few, who was under his protection; also a negro servant. Of
those who escaped, we have seen and conversed with James P.
Wilkinson, Esq., Mr. Stanfield, of Richmond, Virginia, and
Daniel Marshall, Esq., of Moscow, Indiana. The scene, as
described by them, was truly heart-rending; while some were
confined to their berths, and consumed by the flames, others
plunged into the river to find watery graves. One lady, who
attached herself to Mr. Marshall, and had clung to him while
they floated four or five miles, was at length drowned by the
waves of the Alton, after imploring the boat's crew for
assistance and mercy. Mr. Marshall was supported by a flour
barrel. Only two ladies out of ten who were on board were
saved; one of these was Mrs. Castleman, the Captain's wife ;
the other was Mrs. Smith, of New Orleans.

It was said by some of the passengers,
that the captain of the Alton did not hear the cries of those
who implored him for assistance as he passed, it being
midnight; but there can be no excuse for the monster who
commanded the Prairie, for leaving a boat in flames without
turning around and affording the sufferers relief. He reported
her on fire at Natchez and Vicksburg.

A man
in a canoe near the scene of the disaster refused to save any
who were floating in the water, unless they promised to pay
him handsomely for his services. So rapid were the flames that
not even the register of the boat was saved; hence it
was impossible to get a full list of the lost. One of the
officers of the boat informed us, that out of seventy-eight
deck passengers not more than six were saved. This was one of
the most serious calamities that ever occurred on the
Mississippi river, there being at least one hundred and
seventy families deprived by it of some dear and beloved
member, and over two hundred souls being hurried by it out of
time into eternity, with scarce a moment's warning. During the
burning of the Ben Sherrod eight different explosions occurred
; first, barrels of whiskey, brandy, and then the
boilers blew up with a fearful explosion, and lastly, forty
barrels of gunpowder exploded, which made a noise that was
heard many miles distant, scattering fragments of the wreck in
all directions, and producing the grandest sight ever seen.

Immediately after, the wreck sunk out of
sight just above Fort Adams. A large quantity of specie, which
was on its way to the Tennessee Banks, was lost. One gentleman
placed his pocketbook, containing thirty-eight thousand
dollars, under his pillow, and though he managed to escape, he
lost all his money. One scene was distressing in the extreme;
a young and beautiful lady, whose name was Mary Ann Walker, on
hearing the cry of fire, rushed out of the ladies' cabin in
her loose night-clothes in search of her husband, at the same
time holding her infant to her bosom; in her endeavors to get
forward her dress caught fire, and was torn from her back to
save her life. After witnessing her husband fall into the
flames in the forward part of the boat, and unable to reach
him, she leaped with her child into the water, seized a plank,
and was carried by the current within forty yards of the
Columbus, but just as she seized a rope thrown to her, both
mother and child sank to rise no more. One young man, who had
reached the hurricane deck in safety, hearing the cries of his
sister, rushed back to the cabin, clasped her in his arms, and
both were burnt to death. One of the clerks, one of the
pilots, and the mate were burnt to death. All the chambermaids
and women employed in the boat perished; only two negroes
escaped out of thirty-five that were on the
boat.

Lost—Three children and father of
Captain Castleman; Mrs. McDowell, of Belfont, Ala.; Mrs.
Gamble and three children, of New Orleans ; Miss Frances Few,
of Belfont, South Alabama; Mr. Frances, burnt to
death.

Great praise is due to Captain Austin of
the Statesman, and Captain Littlejohn of the Columbus, for
their humane efforts to save the passengers of the Ben
Sherrod, for had they acted as the Captain of the Alton, not a
soul would have heen saved to tell the tale of that calamity.
Mr. Wm. Stamp's family did everything in their power to
relieve the wants of the sufferers, and they will long be
remembered for their kindness to the strangers in that trying
time.

A
gentleman, Mr. Cook, floated down the river several miles
before he was picked up. He hailed the wretched and despicable
character who had put off in a yawl from the shore, and begged
his assistance. The scoundrel, who was intent in picking up
baggage, boxes, asked with the utmost sangfroid, "How much will you give me?" To
the entreaties of others for help, he replied, " Oh, you are
very well off there; keep cool, and you'll come out
comfortable."

Poor Davis, the pilot at the wheel, was
consumed; he was one in a thousand, preferring to die rather
than leave his post in the hour of danger. Just before he left
New Orleans, he was conversing with another pilot about the
burning of the St. Martinsville ; said he, "If ever I should
be on a boat that takes fire, and don't save the passengers,
it will be because the tiller ropes burn, or I perish in the
flames." And just such men as Davis are to be found among the
western boatmen ; many have stood by their posts in the hour
of danger, and perished rather than flinch from their
duty.

THE
BRANDYWINE, APRIL 9, 1832.

The
steamboat
Brandywine, Capt. Hamilton, left New Orleans on the
evening of April 3, 1832. Her place of destination was
Louisville, Kentucky. Her voyage was prosperous until the
evening of the 9th, at seven o'clock. When the boat was about
thirty miles above Memphis, she was discovered to be on fire.
Among the lading, it appears there were a number of carriage
wheels wrapped in straw, as articles of that kind are usually
put up for transportation on the river. These wheels were
piled on the boiler-deck, near the officers' rooms, and under
the hurricane roof. It is supposed that the fire was
communicated from the furnaces to the highly combustible
envelope of these wheels; the wind blew hard at the time, and
the sparks were ascending very rapidly through the apertures
in the boiler-deck, which were occupied by the chimneys, these
not being closely fitted to the woodwork. It appears, too,
that the Brandywine was racing with the steamboat Hudson at the time the
fire broke out; and that, for the purpose of producing more
intense heat, and thus accelerating the boat's speed, a large
quantity of rosin had been thrown into the furnaces. This
fatal rusewas resorted to
because the Brandywine had been compelled to stop and make
some repairs, and the Hudson, in the meantime, had gained
considerable headway. Soon after the Brandywine had resumed
her course, the pilot who was steering discovered that the
straw covering of the carriage wheels was on fire. Strenuous
efforts were made to extinguish the flames and to throw the
burning articles overboard, but it was found that their
removal allowed the wind to have free access to the ignited
mass; from which cause, as Capt. Hamilton reports, the fire
began to spread with almost incredible rapidity; and in less
than five minutes from the time the alarm was first given, the
whole boat was wrapped in a bright sheet of flame.

The state of affairs on board may be
imagined, when it is understood that the Brandywine was
crowded with passengers, and the only means of escape from a
death of fiery torture which presented itself was the yawl, in
which scarcely a tenth part of the affrighted people could be
conveyed to the shore at a single trip. But even the faint
hope of deliverance which this single mode of escape offered
them, soon terminated in disappointment and despair. In the
attempt to launch the yawl, it was upset and sunk. The heat
and smoke had now become so insupportable, that not less than
a hundred persons, made desperate by fear and suffering, threw
themselves into the river.

The number of passengers on board,
according to some reports, was not less than two hundred and
thirty; of these only about seventy-five were saved; the rest
were either drowned or burned to death. Among those who
perished were nine women, and about an equal number of
children.

As soon
as all hope of extinguishing the flames was abandoned, an
attempt was made to run the boat on shore, but she struck on a
sandbar, in nine feet water, and about a quarter of a mile
from the nearest bank of the river, where she remained
immovable, until she was burnt to the water's edge. Those
passengers, and other persons belonging to the boat, who had
the good fortune to escape, saved themselves by swimming, or
floating on detached pieces of timber to the nearest island.
It is reported to the honor of Capt. Hamilton and his crew,
that they remained on the burning boat to the last possible
moment, exerting themselves to the utmost to save the lives
which had been entrusted to their charge.

In this
case, as in several others which we have noticed, the number
of victims cannot be ascertained with any degree of precision.
The following list of the killed, although it is the most
complete account that we could obtain, does not, in all
probability, comprise more than one-third of the real
number.

The number of wounded could not have been
less than seventy, some of whom were severely injured, and
died, in consequence, soon after. Of those who escaped to the
island, some were so badly burned, or otherwise injured, that
they survived only for a few
hours.

THE
ORONOKO, APRIL 21, 1838.

On
Saturday morning, at six o'clock, April 21st, 1838, the steamboat Oronoko,
Capt. John Crawford, came to anchor in the Mississippi,
opposite Princeton, one hundred miles above Vicksburg, where
she stopped for the purpose of sending her yawl ashore to
receive some passengers. In less than five minutes after the
machinery ceased moving, a flue collapsed, spreading death and
devastation throughout the boat. This accident occurred before
the people on board were aroused from their slumbers. The deck
passengers were lodged on the lower deck, abaft the engine,
where, as is customary in western steamboats, berths were
provided for their accommodation. On this occasion the number
of berths was insufficient, as the boat was thronged with
emigrants, and mattresses had been spread over the floor for
the use of those who could not be lodged in the berths. This
apartment between decks was densely crowded with sleeping
passengers, when the flue collapsed, as aforesaid, and the
steam swept through the whole length of the boat with the
force of a tornado, carrying everything before it. Many of the
crew, whom duty had called on deck at that early hour, were
blown overboard; and as the scalding vapor penetrated every
part and recess of the cabin and space between decks, the
slumbering population of the boat, with scarcely an individual
exception, were either killed on the spot, or injured in a
manner more terrible than death itself. Some of these
unfortunates were completely excoriated, some shockingly
mangled and torn, while others were cast among masses of
ruins, fragments of wood and iron, piled up in inextricable
confusion.

The
deck was strewn with more than fifty helpless sufferers; the
river was all alive with those that had been hurled overboard
by the force of the explosion, and those who, frantic with
pain and terror, had cast themselves into the water. Some of
those who had been scalded swam to the bank, and then in the
wildest phrenzy, occasioned by intolerable agony, leaped back
into the water and were drowned. Those persons who occupied
the cabin generally escaped before the steam reached that
apartment; but one gentleman, Mr. Myers, of Wheeling, while
making his way forward with his child in his arms, became
alarmed at the scene of confusion and distress which presented
itself, and rushing back to the cabin, which by this time was
filled with steam, he and the child were both badly burned,
and died soon afterwards.

Nearly one hundred deck passengers are
supposed to have been sacrificed, the names of a great
majority of whom were unknown, and are therefore not inserted
in the subjoined list.

Several of those mentioned in the list of
wounded died of their injuries. Some of those blown overboard
were picked up by the yawl, and two or three were saved by a
skiff from the shore. The inhabitants of Princeton did all in
their power to assist the distressed crew and passengers, and
to alleviate their sufferings.

THE
PILOT , March 10 , 1844

On the
tenth of March, 1844, while the steamboat Pilot, Capt. Grow, was
leaving the woodyard of Mr. Felix, opposite New Orleans, the
starboard boiler burst with a terrific report. Capt. Gow and
Mr. Felix were standing on the boiler-deck; both were blown
overboard, and each had a leg broken, and they were otherwise
severely injured, yet they succeeded in reaching the shore.
William Gow, a son of the captain, was standing on the
forecastle, and was frightfully mangled. His spine and both
his legs were broken. He was removed to the hospital at New
Orleans, where he expired on the following morning. One of the
deck-hands jumped overboard and was drowned. John Nixon, first
engineer, and Henry Fox, second engineer, were badly scalded.
One of the steersmen was slightly scalded, and had both his
legs broken. Capt. Gow himself had his legs broken, his skull
fractured, and was internally injured, and it was supposed
that he could not possibly recover. Several others who were on
board were more or less hurt. One of the crew died of his
injuries at the hospital, about a week after the accident took
place.

Captain Gow and Mr. Felix were blown to
the height of fifty feet in the air, and their escape from
instant death is certainly one of the most extraordinary
circumstances which we find in the records of steamboat
calamities.

THE
GEORGE COLLIER, MAY 6, 1839.

This steamer was on her way from New
Orleans to St. Louis. On the fatal day, at one o'clock, A. M.,
when the boat was eighty miles below Natchez, the piston-rod
gave way, by which accident the forward cylinder-head was
broken, and a part of the boiler stand was carried away. The
steam which escaped scalded forty-five persons, twenty of whom
died on the same day. A list of the dead and wounded was
furnished by the clerk. We copy it, with the usual doubts
respecting its accuracy, as many names must have been
unavoidably omitted.

The cause of the disaster was probably a
flaw or imperfection in the machinery.

THE
TANGIPAHO, MARCH 2, 1838.

The Tangipaho, N. Sharpe, master, was on
her way from the lake terminus of the railroad to the Balize,
and when about forty miles from her place of destination, she
was discovered to be on fire. After some time spent in the
vain effort to extinguish the flames, Captain Sharpe, Mr.
Wilson, the pilot, and Mr. Smith, a passenger, left the boat
(being obliged to use the hatches for a raft, as there was no
small boat on board), with the intention of reaching the
nearest land. Mr. Phillip Grennell, the mate, and six colored
men employed as deck hands, remained in the steamer. About
night-fall the chimneys fell in, and then the mate and his
assistants succeeded in extinguishing the fire. Mr. Grennell
then constructed several sails by joining blankets together,
and put the boat before the wind, hoping to reach South Pass,
or some other place of security. After drifting about all the
succeeding day, Saturday, March 3rd, they cast anchor near the
beach,and went on shore for water, but were unable to obtain
any. They weighed anchor, and ran the boat on shore in the
marshes on Sunday afternoon. From thence they travelled to
Johnson's store on the Mississippi, where they procured a
skiff, crossed to the opposite side, and were taken on board
by the tow-boat Farmer, Captain Morrison.

The gentlemen who betook themselves to
the hatches, : Captain Sharpe and Messrs. Wilson and
Smith, were doubtless lost, as nothing was heard of them
afterwards. All might have been saved, had the steamer been
provided with a small boat!

THE
GEN. BROWN, NOV. 25, 1838.

For the particulars of this disaster we
are indebted to Capt. Robert McConnell, now of Paducah, Ky.,
who was clerk on board the General Brown, and an eye-witness
of the explosion and its dreadful results. This steamer, under
the command of Captain Samuel Clark, left Louisville, Ky., for
New Orleans on the 19th of November, 1838. This was her first
trip of the season, and the water was quite low in both
rivers, being only five feet in the Ohio and seven feet in the
Mississippi. Circumstances seemed to threaten misfortune from
the very beginning of " the voyage ; for in passing over a
sand-bar at no great distance from Louisville, the General
Brown came in collision with the steamer Washington, bound up
the river, by which accident the larboard wheel of the Gen.
Brown was damaged to that degree that repairs were necessary
before the boat could proceed. The carpenter succeeded in
fitting up a temporary wheel, which answered the purpose very
imperfectly; however, the boat was enabled to continue her
trip, working along slowly until the morning of Sunday,
November 25th, when she reached Helena, Ark., where she
stopped to land a passenger .

This being done, the captain, who stood
on the hurricane roof, took the bell-rope in his hand to give
the usual signal of departure; but at the first tap of the
bell, the boilers exploded with a deafening crash, and that
single stroke of the bell was to many a signal of departure to
that eternal world from whence no traveller returns. Capt.
Clark himself, while still grasping the bell rope convulsively
in his hand, was blown overboard, together with a portion of
the wood-work on which he stood. He had been holding a lively
conversation with Dr. Price, of Lexington, a few moments
before. Dr. P. stood on the same platform, and shared the same
melancholy fate, both gentlemen being afterwards found among
the dead. Captain McConnell, who gives this account, was
thrown from the railing on which he stood after notifying the
captain that the boat was ready to start. He fell on the deck
and received but little injury. He supposes that the persons
killed numbered about fifty-five, and the wounded fifteen or
twenty. The names which follow are all that he could call to
remembrance.

The names of the wounded are not given.
Capt. McConnell exonerates the commander of the General Brown
from all blame, declaring that he frequently urged the firemen
and engineers to use the utmost caution, and to carry as
little steam as possible, on account of the crippled condition
of the boat.

THE
ELIZABETH

The steamboat Elizabeth, Capt. Gordon,
was ascending the Mississippi on Tuesday, April 3d, 1845,
having left New Orleans on the preceding Sunday. About three
o'clock, P. M., just as she entered the Courtauban, her boiler
collapsed, making a complete wreck of her upper works. The
numerous pieces of the deck, &c., blown overboard,
afforded the means of escape to a number of persons who had
been projected into the water.

The names of the persons who were killed
or injured by this accident were given by the clerk of the
boat, whose statement we copy:

The passengers were uninjured, except a
few who were slightly bruised.

THE
ENTERPRISE, ON THE RIO GRANDE.

On the
21st day of August, 1846, the Enterprise was about casting off
from a landing-place on the river, forty-five miles above
Renoza, Where she had been moored during the night; and
scarcely had the paddle-wheels made three revolutions, when
the boiler exploded, making a fearful havoc among the
passengers (TJ. S. volunteers) and crew, who numbered
altogether about one hundred and fifty persons. The hull, and
those parts of the boat adjacent to the stern, were but little
damaged, but the forward works, with everything in the
neighborhood of the boilers, were torn to pieces or blown
overboard. There were sixteen men sleeping between the
chimneys, all of whom experienced, more or less, the sad
effects of the accident.

Many were shot into the air, and falling
into the water, were drowned, being too much disabled to swim,
or to make any other effort for their own preservation. Others
fell on different parts of the boat, and were horribly
mutilated. The boilers were very much shattered, the pieces
flying about in every direction, and falling in a shower of
iron fragments on the deck. In such circumstances, the escape
of so many of the crew and passengers from death or severe
injury was almost miraculous. No satisfactory account of the
cause of the disaster has been given, but it was conjectured
that some leakage in the boilers caused a deficiency of water
therein, which is a frequent cause of steamboat explosions.

Patrick Kelley, one of the wounded, was
maddened by his sufferings, and died in a few days after the
accident. The bodies of some of the passengers who were
drowned, were recovered from the water and buried some miles
below Renoza.

THE
ERIE

This magnificent steamer, Capt. Titus,
commander, was destroyed by fire, on Lake Erie, on the 6th day
of August, 1841, by which calamity more than one hundred and
seventy-five persons lost their lives. The following account
is given of the origin of this disaster. Among the passengers
on board were six painters, who were going to Erie, to paint
the steamboat
Madison. They had with them several large demijohns
filled with spirits of turpentine and varnish, which, unknown
to Capt. Titus, they had placed on the boiler-deck, directly
over the boilers. One of the firemen who survived the
accident, asserts that he discovered the dangerous position of
these demijohns, a short time after the boat left the wharf,
and removed them to a safer locality ; but some person must
have replaced them, without being aware of the inflammable
nature of the contents. Immediately before the fire broke out,
a slight explosion was heard; the sound is said to have
resembled that which is made by a single puff of a
high-pressure steamengine. The supposition is that one of the
demijohns bursted, in consequence of its exposure to the heat.
The liquid poured out on the boiler-deck instantly took fire,
and within a few minutes all that part of the boat was in
flames. The steamer had recently been painted and varnished,
and owing to this circumstance, the whole of the woodwork was
very soon in a blaze. There were two hundred persons on board
the Erie, and of that number only twenty-seven were
saved.

Mr.
Mann, of Pittsford, N. Y., who was one of the passengers,
gives the following narrative, which comprises a history of
this memorable and most horrifying event. Mr. Mann was walking
on the promenade deck, in company with a young lady, Miss
Sherman, and had just reached the point above the boiler-deck
where the demijohns were placed, when the singular sound
spoken of above arrested his attention. This report was
followed by the ascent of a volume of black smoke, which, as
Mr. Mann describes it, " resembled a cloud of coal dust."
Without any apprehension of danger, he stopped for a few
moments when the smoke subsided, and was instantly succeeded
by a red, lurid flame, which spread with fearful rapidity, and
soon enveloped every thing combustible that was within its
reach, cracking the sky-lights with intense heat, and filling
up the space between decks with what appeared to be a dense
red flame. While Mr. Mann was looking around for some means of
escape, the young lady rushed from him and disappeared ; but
in a short time she returned, calling on her father, who, being indisposed, had
retired a few minutes before to his berth. Frantic with alarm
for her parent's safety, she was again about to rush below,
where certain destruction would have met her, when Mr. Mann
detained her almost by force, promising to render all possible
assistance to her father as soon as he had provided for her
own security. A prospect of deliverance now presented itself.
Mr. Mann saw a passenger force up a board which formed a part
of the seats that surrounded the promenade deck, and throwing
it overboard he leaped after it, and was enabled by grasping
the plank to keep himself afloat. Mr. Mann followed this
person's example, and succeeded in detaching another board,
which he hoped to make the means of preserving the life of the
affrighted girl who clung to his arm. But new difficulties
presented themselves; no persuasions could induce Miss Sherman
to descend to the water. In these embarrassing circumstances,
he placed one end of the board over the railing at the stern ;
Miss Sherman was seated on the projecting extremity, and Mr.
Mann earnestly entreated some men who were clustered around
the rudder post, to assist him in lowering the plank and the
young lady to the water, but no attention was paid to his
entreaties. Miss Sherman in the meanwhile, being made dizzy by
her fearful position, fell from the plank, sunk in the river,
and was seen no
more.

Having
failed in his noble attempt to save this young lady, Mr. Mann
now began to make some effort for his own preservation.
Glancing around him, he saw Capt. Titus endeavoring to reach
the ladies' cabin, and heard him give the order to stop the
engine. It was a moment of overwhelming terror. From bulk-head
to rudder, the flames were raging with an impetuosity which
seemed to mock at all hope of deliverance. The shrieks of many
human beings expiring in fiery torment within the vessel, and
the cries for assistance of many others who were struggling in
the water, almost deprived the listener of sense and
reflection. The engine seemed to work with a double power, as
if it were maddened by the appaling character of the scene.
The flames, as they rushed aft, sounded like the roaring of a
hurricane, threatening every moment to engulf the boat and
every affrighted soul on board. Forward of the wheel-house
several persons were struggling to wrench partially loosened
timber from the vessel, for the purpose of sustaining
themselves in the water. Below and in rear of the ladies'
cabin, some thirty or forty people were clustered, each
frantically endeavoring to descend by the rudder chains for
safety. In this, some had partly succeeded, but were forced
off by others struggling for the same object. Several persons
were hanging from the sides of the boat, husbands vainly
endeavoring to sustain their wives in that position, and
mothers their children. But not one of all the females whom
Mr. Mann saw gathered there, and not one of the children, was
saved. Wives, mothers, helpless infants, all sunk " with
bubbling groan" into the deep tomb of
waters.

After
making this survey, and abandoning every other hope of escape,
Mr. Mann, who still grasped the board from which the
unfortunate young lady had fallen, threw it into the lake, and
immediately followed it. He sunk for a moment, but arose to
the surface, fortunately by the side of the plank, to which he
now clung with desperate energy, as his last resource. He had
companions in the terrible struggle for life, but they were
few; the greater number had already yielded to the mighty
conqueror. Here was one buffeting the waves, unsustained by
any thing but his own strength, but that was doubled by the
energy of a last hope. There was another shrieking for aid, in
a voice which became fainter every moment, and was interrupted
by a gurgling sound which foretold a speedy termination of the
struggle. From another direction came the voice of
supplication, the last prayer of a dying man, not for
deliverance from earthly peril, (for all hope of that had been
abandoned,) but for pardon for himself and protection for a
wife and children far distant. Then was heard the shriek of
the mother, bewailing the child which she had vainly
endeavoured to withhold from the distended jaws of death.
'Turning his agonized gaze to the deck above him, Mr. Mann saw
many passengers, one after another, throw themselves into the
water ; the greater number, after a few feeble efforts to save
themselves from the fate which threatened them, disappeared
with wild exclamations of terror and
despair.

When Mr. Mann left the deck of the
burning steamer, she was driving ahead with a rapid motion;
but having left him on his plank about two miles astern, she
suddenly veered around, and again approached him; so near did
she come, indeed, that he was in danger of being engulfed, but
contrived, with some difficulty, to get out of her way. As the
boat passed him, he saw five or six persons hanging to the
anchor, and about as many more holding on to the pole which
supported the liberty cap at the bow. All of them appeared to
be suffering greatly from the heat. Near the bulkhead, a
person stood almost surrounded by fire ; he held in his hand a
piece of white cloth, with which he appeared to be bathing his
face, which must have been severely scorched. When he saw Mr
Mann, he begged him, for God's sake, to allow him to get on
the plank, as he could not swim, and therefore dare not leap
into the water. Mr. Mann replied that the plank would not
support two persons, but the suppliant made such piteous
entreaties, that Mr. Mann was about to yield, when a heavy
swell bore the blazing wreck to a distance, and carried the
unhappy sufferer beyond the reach of all human aid.

When Mr. Mann had been in the water about
two hours, he was taken up by the steamboat De Witt Clinton, which
rescued several others of the drowning passengers.

Among others who embarked at Buffalo in
this ill-fated boat, were two brothers, Charles J. Lynde and
Walter Lynde, sons of the Hon. Tully Lynde, of Homer, Cortland
Co., N. Y. These brothers resided at Chicago, and were
returning from a visit to their parents. The wife of one of
these young gentlemen, a lady of superior intellect, was the
only female passenger saved. She conducted herself throughout
the whole trying scene with exemplary fortitude and
intrepidity. Her husband had provided two life preservers, one
for her and one for himself. - As soon as it became evident
that the boat could not be saved, Mrs. Lynde fastened her
life-preserver around her waist, and fearlessly committed
herself to the water, expecting that her husband would follow
immediately. But in this she was disappointed ; her anxious
gaze searched in vain among the floating objects on the water,
for the dearest object of her affection. Yet, although she saw
him not, she had no fears for his safety, as she had seen him
put on his life-preserver before she left the boat. He was
much excited at the time, and she exhorted him to be more calm
and self-possessed. When the De Witt Clinton had taken up all
the persons that could be found floating on the water, and
Mrs. Lynde among the rest, she eagerly sought her husband
among those who had been rescued. He was not there: but she
saw the life-preserver, which she knew to be his, in the
possession of a German, who was one of the deck passengers.
The man declared that he had found it in the water, and made
it instrumental in saving his own life. It was believed by
some persons that the German, in order to save himself, had
wrenched the preserver from Mr. Lynde ; but the more
charitable supposition is, that Mr. Lynde, in his excitement
and agitation, had failed to fasten it securely to his person,
so that it came off at the moment he leaped into the
water.

There was a musical band, consisting of
ten persons, on board the Erie, all of whom, except two,
perished in the conflagration, or in the water.

The following list of the killed, wounded
and missing is the most complete that could be
obtained.

The
following names are those of Swiss emigrants, who were either
burned to death or drowned: Z. Zuggler and family, six persons
; John Hang, wife and child ; Martin Zulgen and wife ; George
Rettenger, wife and child ; George Christian and family, five
persons; George Neigold and family, eight persons ; M.
Reibold, wife and child ; George Steinman and wife ; Peter
Kling and sister; L. Gillig, wife and child; Peter Schmidt;
John Netzel; Peter Schneider and family, five persons ; J.
Newminger and family, four persons; S. Schapler, wife and
three children; R. Tilling and wife; C. Obens ; J. Korter ; C.
Durbur; M. Lithold, wife, sister -in-law and two children; C.
Deitcherich and wife ; C. Wilbur, wife and four children ; C.
Palmer, wife and three children; J. Garghum, wife and three
children; G. Mulliman, wife and two children; C. Kellenman ;
C. Mintch, and his companion, name
unknown.

Among
those who perished were a number of infants, not included in
the preceding list, as no charge was made for their passage,
and they were therefore not mentioned on the boat's
books.

THE STEAMBOAT MONMOUTH AND THE SHIP
TREMONT

With strict
propriety of language, we might call the awful catastrophe
about to be particularized, a massacre, a wholesale
assassination, or anything else but an accident. In some instances, and this is one
of them, a reckless disregard of human life, when it leads to
a fatal result, can claim no distinction, on any correct
principle of law or justice, from wilful and premeditated
murder.

The steamer Monmouth
left New Orleans, October 23rd, 1837, for Arkansas river,
having been chartered by the U. S. government to convey about
seven hundred Indians, a portion of the emigrant Creek tribe,
to the region which had been selected for their future abode.
On the night of the 30th, the Monmouth, on her upward trip,
had reached that point of the Mississippi called Prophet
Island Bend, where she encountered the ship Tremont, which the
steamer Warren was then towing down the river! Owing partly to
the dense obscurity of the night, but much more to the
mismanagement of the officers of the Monmouth, a collision
took place between that vessel and the Tremont, and such was
the violence of the concussion, that the Monmouth immediately
sunk. The unhappy red men, with their wives and children, were
precipitated into the water; and such was the confusion which
prevailed at the time, such was the number of the drowning
people, who probably clung to each other in their struggles
for life, that, notwithstanding the Indians, men, women and
children, are generally expert swimmers, more than half of the
unfortunate Creeks perished. The captains and crews of the
steamers Warren and Yazoo, by dint of great exertion,
succeeded in saving about three hundred of the poor Indians,
the remaining four hundred had become accusing spirits before
the tribunal of a just God, where they, whose criminal
negligence was the cause of this calamity, will certainly be
held
accountable.

The cabin of
the Monmouth parted from the hull, and drifted some distance
down the stream, when it broke in two parts, and emptied its
living contents into the river. The stem of the ship came in
contact with the side of the steamer, therefore the former
received but little damage, while the latter was broken up, to
that degree that the hull, as previously stated, almost
instantly went to the bottom. The ship merely lost her
cut-water.

The mishap, as
we have hinted before, may be ascribed to the mismanagement of
the officers of the Monmouth. This boat was running in a part
of the river where, by the usages of the river and the rules
adopted for the better regulation of steam navigation on the
Mississippi, she had no right to go, and where, of course, the
descending vessels did not expect to meet with any boat coming
in an opposite direction. The only persons attached to the
Monmouth who lost their lives, were the bar-keeper and a
fireman.

It is not without some feeling of
indignation, that we mention the circumstance that the
drowning of four hundred Indians, the largest number of human
beings ever sacrificed in a steamboat disaster, attracted but
little attention, (comparatively speaking,) in any part of the
country. Even the journalists and news-collectors of that
region, on the waters of which this horrible affair took
place, appear to have regarded the event as of too little
importance to deserve any particular detail; and accordingly
the best accounts we have of the matter merely state the
outlines of the story, with scarcely a word of commiseration
for the sufferers, or a single expression of rebuke for the
heartless villains who wantonly exposed the lives of so many
artless and confiding people to imminent peril, or almost
certain destruction.

BURNING OF THE WASHINGTON.

A new
and elegant steamboat called the Washington,
was burned on Lake Erie, opposite Silver creek, June 16th,
1838. In the early part of the preceding night, the Washington
passed the steamer North America, while the latter lay at the
town of Erie. On the following morning, about three o'clock,
when the North America was within three miles of Buffalo, the
helmsman discovered a brilliant light, which appeared to rise
from the bosom of the lake in the direction of Silver creek.
The North America was immediately put about, and steered for
the scene of the apprehended disaster. On approaching the
spot, about six o'clock, the burning hull of the Washington
was found driving before the wind, about four miles from land,
and not a living object could be discovered on board. The
surface of the lake was literally covered with hats, bonnets,
trunks, baggage and blackened fragments of the
wreck.

The intense anxiety of those who beheld
this fearful scene for the fate of the passengers and crew of
the Washington, was partially relieved by the discovery of
several small boats near the shore, in which it was supposed
that some who had embarked in the Washington were probably
saved. In fact, the alarm had been given at the town of Silver
Creek as soon as the flames were perceived from the shore, and
all the boats that could be found were sent to rescue the
sufferers. There were only three skiffs, however, which could
be employed in this service ; but these, together with the
yawl of the Washington, were the means of saving all who could
be found on the steamer, and all who were still floating on
the water when the skiffs arrived. But, in the meanwhile, a
number, variously estimated from thirty to sixty, had
perished. Six dead bodies, those of two women and four
children, were picked up by the boats near the burning wreck.
One man died of his injuries soon after he reached the shore,
and a child was found dead in its mother's arms when taken out
of the lake. The mother survived, though she was insensible
when found in the water, clasping her dead infant to her
bosom.

The origin of the fire is not well
explained, but it appears that the flames broke out in the
immediate neighbourhood of the boiler. The helm was
immediately put about, and the head of the boat directed to
the shore, but within a few minutes , the wheel ropes were
severed by the fire, and the boat became an unmanageable
wreck. Had iron rods, instead of ropes, been used in the
construction of the steering apparatus, it is highly probable that every
individual on board would have been saved, for in that case
the boat could have reached the shore without difficulty. The
surviving passengers unanimously testified that no blame could
be attached to Capt. Brown, the commander of the Washington.
The names of the victims, with the usual allowance for
defective reports, are
subjoined,

Persons Drowned
Or Burnt
To Death.—Capt. Clemens, of Dudley,
Mass.; Conrad Shurtz, and William Shurtz, wife and three
children, Clinton, N. Y.; Wm. Sheld, St. Lawrence; Mr. Baker,
wife and three children (one child of Mr. Baker was saved.) A
Scotchman, name unknown, lost three children, together with
his mother and sister. Several of the survivors, whose names
are not given, were badly burned before they left the
boat.

The Washington was built at Ashtabula;
she was not more than six months old, and had made but one
trip before the one which was interrupted by this deplorable
accident.

EXPLOSION OF THE WALKER

This explosion took place on Lake
Ponchartrain, on the 2nd day of December, 1840. The
particulars were never published before. The following list of
the killed and wounded was furnished by D. H. Ryder, who was
clerk of the Walker at the time of the explosion :

The accident is ascribed to the "weakness
of the boiler," and not to any omission of duty on the part of
those who had charge of the engines.

THE
MOHICAN

The
steam tow-boat Mohican, on the 19th day of February, 1842,
while engaged, together with the tow-boat Star, in towing the
British ship Edward Thorn across a bar near New Orleans, burst
all her boilers, causing the death of ten or twelve persons.
The Mohican took fire immediately after the explosion, and was
entirely consumed. One of the boilers of the exploded vessel
was found on the forecastle of the ship in tow. The accident
is ascribed to a deficiency of water in the
boilers.

Lieutenant Bukup, one of the revenue
officers stationed at the Balize, was blown from the deck of
the Mohican to the deck of the Star, and was killed instantly.
The mate of the English ship was killed, and the Captain was
dangerously wounded. Capt. Heaton, of the Mohican, was much
injured, and two engineers, two firemen, and three deck hands,
belonging to the same boat, were
killed.

THE
BELLE OF CLARKSVILLE AND LOUISIANA.

On the
night of December 14, 1844, a disastrous collision took place
on the Mississipi river, between the steamers Belle of
Clarksville and Louisiana, the former from New Orleans, bound
to Nashville ; the latter, from Memphis to New Orleans. Both
vessels were heavily laden. The Belle of Clarksville was
completely demolished. The hull parted from the cabin and sunk
immediately, the cabin floating off with a number of
passengers inside, all of whom were saved. None were drowned
but deck passengers, and some of the crew of the boat. The
Louisiana was immediately brought around, and every exertion
was made by the captain and crew to save those persons who
were floating on small pieces of the wreck. The detached cabin
grounded about half a mile below the place where the boats
came in contact. All the cargo and the baggage of the
passengers was lost. The boat was laden with sugar, salt,
coffee, arid molasses. Mr. J. H. French, one of the
passengers, had with him three negro slaves, and three
valuable horses, among them the celebrated Ann Hayes; these
slaves and horses were all drowned. The iron safe containing
$12,000 was saved. The cargo was insured at New Orleans for
$23,000; the boat for $8,000.

On
Friday night, May 5th, 1843, at 11 o'clock, as the steamer
Forrest was lying , to put off a passenger, about twenty miles
above the mouth of the Alleghany river, with her head down
stream, she was run into by the steamboat Pulaski, which was
coming up the river with about one hundred and fifty
passengers. The bow of the Forrest struck the side of the
Pulaski opposite the boilers. The boilers were thrown down,
the steam-pipes separated, and the steam rushed out among the
passengers, scalding many of them in a terrible manner. The
side of the Pulaski being broken up by the collision, the boat
almost immediately sunk, leaving the boiler-deck above water.
Five or six persons, names unknown, were thrown overboard and
drowned. One of these floated past the Forrest, calling
piteously for assistance, but before it could be afforded him
the current had swept him away. Another was drawn in under the
wheel and drowned. One young man swam ashore after throwing
himself from the cabin window of the Pulaski.

The following list of the sufferers was
furnished by the officers of the wrecked steamer:

We have
not been able to learn the names of the persons who were
drowned.

THE
SHEPHERDESS

On the
3rd of January, 1844, the whole city of St. Louis was thrown
into consternation and feverish excitement by the intelligence
that the steamboat
Shepherdess had been wrecked in Cahokia Bend, only
three miles from the centre of that city, and that many lives
had been lost. Several boats were immediately despatched to
the scene of the reported disaster, and the worst rumors were
unhappily verified. The particulars of the sad event are given
below :

The Shepherdess, while ascending the
Mississippi river on her way from Cincinnati to St. Louis, at
11 o'clock, in a dark and stormy night, struck a snag just
above the mouth of Cahokia creek. The concussion was very
severe, and it is believed that several planks must have been
• torn from the bottom of the boat. According to the report of
the officers, the number of passengers was between sixty and
seventy. Most of those who were in the gentlemen's cabin had
retired to their berths; four or five gentlemen in this cabin
were sitting up by the stove, as it was cold winter weather.
The ladies were generally undressed for the night. In less
than two minutes after the boat struck, the water rose to the
lower deck, where most of the passengers in that part of the
boat were asleep. The Captain, who was on duty, ran to the
cabin occupied by the ladies, and assured them that there was
no danger; he then returned to the forecastle, and is supposed
to have been washed overboard, as nothing was seen or heard of
him afterwards. As soon as the shock was felt on board, one of
the pilots attempted to descend into the hold for the purpose
of examining the leak, but he had scarcely entered when the
rush of water drove him back.

About this time shrieks and exclamations
of affright and distress arose from the deck below, and
several ladies, who hastened to the stern-railing, reported
that they saw a number of persons struggling in the river.
Certain it is that the water rushed in with tremendous
rapidity, and before three minutes had elapsed it had risen to
the floor of the upper cabin. Some of those persons who were
on deck saved themselves by getting into the yawl, which was
cut loose and rowed to the shore with a broom. The water rose
so rapidly that it soon became necessary for all to seek
safety on the hurricane deck. This position was not attained
without great difficulty, for the bow had sunk so deep in the
water that the only access was the stern. However, it is
believed that all the people from the cabin succeeded in
reaching the hurricane roof. In the meanwhile the boat was
drifting down the stream, and a few hundred yards below, she
struck another snag, which rose above the surface. This threw
the steamer nearly on her beam ends on the larboard side.
Drifting from this snag, she again lurched to starboard. At
each lurch several persons were washed off; some of them
reached the shore, but many were drowned. A short distance
below, just above the first shot-tower, the hull struck a
bluff-bank, which again careened the boat nearly on her side.
Here the hull and cabin parted ; the former sunk and lodged on
a bar above Carondelet, while the cabin floated down to the
point of the bar below that place, where it lodged and became
stationary.

The steamer Henry Bry was lying at the
shot-tower above Carondelet, and as the cabin passed, the
captain of that vessel, being aroused by the cries of the passengers, took his
yawl to their rescue. This little boat could only take off a
few at a time, but by the strenuous exertions of the captain
of the Bry many were saved. This humane gentleman almost
sacrificed himself in the work of benevolence, and did not
desist until he was covered with a mass of ice, and benumbed
to that degree that further effort was impossible. About three
o'clock the ferry-boat Icelander came down, and took off all
who remained in the detached
cabin.

We have thus given a general history of
this calamity, but some particular incidents deserve the
reader's attention. .A young man, Robert Bullock, of
Maysville, Ky., was one of the passengers. With heroic
devotion to the cause of humanity, he took no measures for his
own safety, but directed all his efforts to the preservation
of the women and children. When every other male person of
mature age had deserted the cabin, he went from state-room to
state-room, and wherever he heard a child cry took it out and
passed it to the hurricane deck. In this way he saved a number
of women and children. His last effort was to rescue Col.
Wood's " Ohio Fat Girl," who happened to be on board. Her
weight was four hundred and forty pounds, but with the
assistance of several persons on the hurricane deck, he
succeeded in raising her to that place of security. A short
time after, the boat made a lurch, and Bullock was thrown into
the water. He swam to the Illinois shore, having previously
given his coat to a lady on the wreck who was suffering
excessively from cold. On reaching the land this young hero
found two young ladies, who had been put ashore in a skiff,
and who were nearly frozen. They were about falling asleep,
which would have been fatal in such circumstances, when
Bullock aroused them, and with great exertions succeeded in
getting them to Cohokia, where they met with the attention
which their half-frozen condition required.

An
English family, from the neighborhood of Manchester, ten in
number, were all saved. Five of them succeeded in getting to
the Illinois shore, four to the Missouri side of the river,
and one was taken off the wreck by the ferry-boat. They were
all re-united on this boat at Cohokia, at a moment when each
party supposed the other to be dead. A spectator of that
re-union avers that he never witnessed a more affecting
scene.

Mr. Muir, of Virginia, and his brother,
were on board, with their mother and nine of their slaves.
With the exception of seven of the slaves, all of these
persons were saved. Levi Craddock, from Davidson Co., Tenn.,
lost three children; himself, his wife, and two children were
saved. Mr. Green, of the same county and state, lost his wife
and three children, and was left with two helpless infants,
the youngest only three months old. Mr. Snell, formerly of
Louisville, Ky., lost a son and daughter. Mr. Wright, of
Mecklenburg Co., Va., and two of his children, were drowned.
His wife, who survived, was in a state of distraction. The
Captain, A. Howell, of Covington, Ky., was undoubtedly lost.
He was in the act of ringing the bell, when the boat made a
lurch, by which the boilers, part of the engine, and the
chimneys, were carried overboard, Capt. H. being overwhelmed
among the ruins, and he sunk with them. He left a wife and
eleven children, the eldest of whom, a son, was with him on
the wreck.

The bodies of two children, who had
perished with cold, were brought up to St. Louis. Considering
how many children were on board, it is surprising that more of
these helpless beings were not lost. The Mayor of St. Louis,
who personally assisted in relieving the sufferers, caused all
who were saved alive to be taken to the Virginia hotel, where
they were amply provided for. Forty persons are believed to
have perished in this wreck. The Rev. Mr. Peck, of Illinois,
who was on board at the time, makes the estimate much larger.
One of the St. Louis papers averred that the number of persons
lost was not less than seventy.

Capt. Howell had lately bought the
Shepherdess, and this was her first trip after she became his
property.

FATAL TORNADO AT NATCHEZ.

On the
7th day of May, 1840, the city of Natchez, Miss., was visited
by a tornado, which occasioned an immense destruction of
property and great loss of life. Several steamboats were
destroyed at the wharves of Natchez, and many persons who had
embarked in them as passengers were drowned. A large number of
flat boats, likewise, were wrecked by the tremendous gale, and
a number of boatmen, supposed to be two hundred or more, in
the aggregate, perished. A tax had recently been laid on
flat-boats at Vicksburg, on which account many of them had
dropped down to Natchez, so that there was an unusually large
number of these boats collected at the last-named city at the
time of the tornado.

The steamboat Hinds was blown out into
the stream and sunk, and all the passengers and crew, except
four men, were lost. It is not known how many passengers were
on this boat. The captain was supposed to have been saved, as
he was seen on shore a short time before the gale commenced,
but' as nothing was heard of him afterwards, it is conjectured
that he must have returned to the boat, and shared the fate of
his crew and passengers. The wreck of .the Hinds was
afterwards found at Baton Rouge, with fifty-one dead bodies on
board, forty-eight of whom were males, and three females;
among the latter was one little girl about three years
old.

The steamboat Prairie had just arrived
from St. Louis, freighted with lead. Her upper works, down to
the deck, were swept off, and the whole of the crew and
passengers are supposed to have been drowned. The number of
the passengers is not known, but four ladies, at least, were
seen on board a short time "before the disaster. The steamboat H.
Lawrence and a sloop were in a somewhat sheltered position at
the Cotton Press. They were severely damaged, but not sunk.
The steam ferry-boat was sunk, and also the wharf-boat "
Mississippian," which was used as a hotel, grocery. Of one
hundred and twenty flat-boats, which lay at the landing, all
were lost except four, and very few of the men employed on
board were saved.

We give the names of some of the victims,
but a great majority of the persons drowned could never be
identified.

Besides these, about two hundred flat
boatmen, (names unknown,) were ascertained to have been lost.
The total loss of life is estimated at four hundred. For its
violence and destructive effects, this tornado was without
precedent in the recollection of the oldest inhabitant of that
region. The water in the river was agitated to that degree
that the best swimmers could not sustain themselves on the
surface. The waves rose to the height of ten or fifteen feet.
Many houses in the vicinity of Natchez were blown down, and
many buildings in the city were unroofed; the roofs, in some
instances, being carried half-way across the river. People
found it impossible to stand on the shore. One man was blown
from the top of the hill, (sixty feet high,) and fell into the
river forty yards from the bank. Heavy beams of timber and
other ponderous objects were blown about like straws. Great
was the consternation of the inhabitants of Natchez and its
neighborhood, and owing to this cause, perhaps, many persons
were drowned for want of prompt assistance. When the first
alarm had somewhat subsided, the citizens hastened to the
river, rescued some who were still living from the water, and
recovered hundreds of dead bodies before they were swept away
by the rapid current.

THE
LUCY WALKER, OCT. 25, 1844.

This event is especially remarkable on
account of the unusual complication of calamities, (if we may
so speak,) which attended it; the explosion, the burning and
the sinking of the vessel, all occurring within a few minutes.
The Lucy Walker, Capt. Vann, was descending the river, and
when about four miles below New Albany, Indiana, some part of
the machinery got out of order, and the boat was stopped to
make repairs. During this pause, the water in the boilers was
measurably exhausted, and about five minutes after the engine
ceased working, three of the boilers exploded with tremendous
violence and terrible effect.

The principal force of the explosion took
an upward direction; and the consequence was that all that
part of the boat situated above the boilers was blown into
thousands of pieces. The TJ. S. snag-boat Gophar, Capt. L. B.
Dunham, was about two hundred yards distant at the time of the
explosion. Capt. Dunham was immediately on the spot, rescuing those who
had been thrown into the water, and affording all other
assistance in his power. Having been a spectator of the scene,
with all its horrors, this gentleman has furnished a
narrative, to which we are indebted for many of the facts
related in this article. He states that such was the force of
the explosion, that, although the Lucy Walker was in the
middle of the river, many fragments of wood and iron, were
thrown on shore. At the moment of the accident, the air
appeared to be filled with human beings, with dissevered limbs
and other fragments of human bodies. One man was blown to the
height of fifty yards, as the narrator judges, and fell with
such force as to pass entirely through the deck. Another was
cut in two by a piece of the boiler Many other incidents,
equally distressing and horrifying, are related. Before Capt.
Dunham could reach the spot where the wreck lay, he saw many
persons who had been blown overboard perish in the water. But
it was his good fortune to save the lives of a large number,
by throwing them boards and ropes, and pulling them on board
with boat-hooks. Immediately after the explosion, the ladies'
cabin took fire and burned with great rapidity, but before it
was consumed, the steamer sunk in twelve feet water. Thus the
whole tragedy was completed within a few
minutes.

The screams and exclamations of the
ladies and the other survivors are represented as awful and
distressing in the extreme. However, most of the females
escaped ; a very few of them are supposed to have been
drowned, but none of those who survived were injured. The
books of the boat were destroyed; of course it will ever be
impossible to ascertain all the names or the number of those
who perished. There were at least fifty or sixty persons
killed or missing, and fifteen or twenty wounded, some of them very
seriously. Capt. Dunham took off the wounded and left them at
New Albany, where they were suitably provided for by the
hospitable and benevolent citizens of the
place.

The following are the names of the
killed, wounded and missing, aa far as we have been able to
learn:

Two persons, John W. Johnson and Richard
Phillips, are supposed to have been in the boat. They were not
seen after the explosion, and it was generally believed that
they were lost. Another account says, " We understand that the
bodies of Nicholas Ford, Philip Wallis, S. M. Brown, and a
little girl, killed by the explosion of the Lucy Walker, have
been taken from the river, and decently interred by the
citizens of West Point."

Additional Incidents.—The Rev. Mr. Todd, of
Natchez, was blown overboard, but saved himself by swimming.
At New Albany, when the dead bodies and the wounded were
brought to that city, the stores and other places of business
were generally closed, flags were lowered, and the whole town
wore the aspect of
mourning.

Mr.
Wren, of Yazoo, Miss., was thrown from the boiler-deck, and
fell near the bow of the boat, in a state of insensibility.
When he recovered bis senses, he saw his little son, six or
seven years old, with the flames raging around him, in the
upper part of the boat. He watched the movements of the child,
as every parent will believe, with intense anxiety. Soon he
saw the boy leap overboard ; the river was covered with planks
and mattresses, and the lad went from fragment to fragment,
until he succeeded in getting on a mattress which would
support him in the water. The agonized father, who was unable
to rise from the spot where he lay, continued to watch the
progress of his little son, until he saw him taken off the
mattress by the crew of Capt. Dunham's boat. Who shall
attempt to imagine, much less to describe, the feelings of the
father at that moment ?

A man
and his wife and four daughters were saved separately, and in
different ways. Their subsequent meeting must have been most
joyous. A little girl was found clinging to the wreck when the
flames were so near that she was constrained to dash water on
one side of her face, to protect it from the intense heat. A
man was on the hurricane-deck with his wife and little
daughter, at the time of the explosion. He dropped the lady
aft into the yawl, and saw that she was safe; he then threw
the child into the stream, and although suffering severely
with a sprained ankle and other hurts, he plunged in, and
saved both himself and his little girl by swimming.

Pieces of the boiler were thrown on the
Kentucky shore, and it is said that some of them were no
thicker than a half dollar. When, where, or by whom could they
have been inspected ?

The Lucy Walker was built at Cincinnati,
and finished only about nine months before the fatal
termination of her career.

THE
WILMINGTON

The steamer Wilmington, bound from New
Orleans to 'St. Louis, burst a toiler at daylight, on the
morning of the 18th of November, 1839, when near the mouth of
Arkansas river. The boilers, engines, and upper works were
entirely demolished. In fact, there never was a more terrific
explosion, although the loss of life was small, owing to there
being few passengers on board

List Of
The Killed.—One of the pilots, Mr.
Andrew Helms, who was standing near the stern of the boat, was
blown overboard and drowned ; Julius Fisk, the first engineer;
Paul Johnson, second engineer, mortally wounded; William
Hasker, John Freeman, C. Smith, John Rhoades and Dr. Brant,
New Orleans; William Wills, South Carolina ; C. Ebert, and
nine
wounded.

The Wilmington had just started from a
wood-yard, and was under full headway when the explosion took
place. The boat was completely riddled with pieces of iron
flying through the cabin. The dead were buried at the mouth of
the Arkansas river.